Eggplant Burgers
I dread the winter months when many of my favorite foods are out of season. Nothing’s worse than craving a food you love to eat and knowing you have to wait eight months for it to return. Sure, these days you can get almost anything year round at your local grocery, but I’m not big on buying fruits and veggies that have to travel thousands of miles on planes, trains and automobiles to get there. So what’s the solution?
Recently, I’ve made a big point of doubling most of my recipes and freezing half so that our family has food to eat on the day and also something to look forward to down the road. That’s a real plus when I’m craving apples or pears in summer, or peaches or tomatoes in winter. And it means on cold nights when I’m dreaming of these Eggplant Burgers, they’re only 10 minutes — not 8 months — away! These burgers have a firm texture, are moist inside and have a crisp outer crust. And since they’re shaped into patties, they’re perfect to put on a bun with some melted cheese and place in your little one’s hand to munch on, for a snack, lunch or dinner. When time isn’t on your side, but you still want something healthy and easy to prepare for dinner, you’ll be happy to have these on hand — no matter what time of year!
Eggplant Burgers (Makes 8 Burgers)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil, plus more for sautéing
1 Medium Eggplant, cubed
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Parsley, chopped
1 Large Egg
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 Cup Breadcrumbs (I used whole wheat)
Accompaniments: Whole Wheat Bagel, Buns,Cheese, Tomato, Lettuce, Ketchup, Pickles
1. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat and cook the eggplant cubes for 3 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and salt and continue to sauté for another 2 minutes.
3. Add 1 tbsp of water, cover and cook for an additional 3 minutes or until eggplant is fork tender. Allow to cool.
4. Place the eggplant and remaining ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.
5. Use about 2 tbsps of the eggplant mixture for mini burgers, 1/4 cup for bigger burgers and form into patties.
6. Heat about 1-2 tsps of oil in a large sauté pan and cook the eggplant patties for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
7. Serve.
* To freeze place the cooked patties on a baking sheet, freeze for 1 hour and place in a Ziploc bag, label and freeze up to 3-4 months. When ready to serve, place patties on a baking sheet in a 300 degree oven for 10 minutes until warm.
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Catherine, Is that a mini ww bagel that you have it on in the picture or a regular sized bagel? Sure does look yummy. We will definitely try these. Thanks!
It’s sort of a medium sized bagel. It’s not tiny at all, but it’s also not super sized.
I would love to make these but my kid’s allergic to eggs. Anything else I could use to hold these together?
For an egg replacer, combine 1 tbsp ground flax seeds with 3 tbsp of water and toss it in
This looks great for school lunches. I am going to make it for my almost 1yo son and see if my very picky daughter decides to try it. Looks like a great idea. Thanks
I know in baking you can replace an egg with ground flax. I wonder if it would work for these patties?
It will probably work the same, just combine 1 Tbsp of ground flax seeds with 3 Tbsp of water. If you try it, let me know how they turn out!
These look awesome … we’ll be trying this weekend!
This. Is. Brilliant.
Ok. I had to leave you an update!
I needed something for lunch and had an eggplant that I really needed to use up because it was about to go bad, but I didn’t have time to make buns for burgers. So I did what you suggested only instead of making patties, I coated my hands with olive oil, made tiny nuggets, dipped them in Panko, and grilled them. Eggplant nuggets!! I know this is probably not news to anyone else, but for someone who is just started the whole cook-healthy-foods-from-scratch thing, it’s genius because my kids (who are being weaned off Tyson nuggets) LOVE THEM!!!
*hip hip HURRAY!* THANKS!!! 
thanks for sharing! i might try that!
I loveeeeeeeee eggplant and so does my daughter. Going to make these tonight
and portabello pizzas! Got a good deal on the mushrooms 
Can’t wait
Do you peel the eggplant? I never know if I should peel eggplant in recipes.
No I did not since a lot of the nutrients are in the skin as well, plus you have to put them in the food processor so they all get ground up
Have to try these! We are not huge eggplant eaters, but this looks great. Thanks!
mmm. how about adding some marinara sauce too?! cant wait to try them with a side of zucchini coins or kale chips!
We love eggplant and these look great, I’m sure the kids would love them! Finding your blog was a blessing, so many new ideas
Hey Catherine…This recipe sounds right up my alley, I love eggplants and I love burgers with cheese!!! I’ve tried to stop using so much bread crumbs, i actually prefer panko, and now I even substitute both for quinoa, even in burgers!!! Super delicious and full of protein, have you tried doing that??
Do you cook the Quinoa first? What a great idea!
What a great idea! I will keep that in mind!
How do you prepare it using Quinoa?? Details!
I would probably cook the quinoa first, and then add about 1 cup of cooked quinoa to the eggplant burger mixture. Cook as directed in the recipe!! I’m obsessed with quinoa!
Ok…I tried adding Quinoa instead of the breadcrumbs and although it is tasty, the patties did not form at all! They ended up being very sloppy pancakes. I would recommend maybe half Quinoa and half breadcrumbs just so you get them to set like a burger.
thanks for this tip…I just bought a big bag of quinoa and would like to incorporate it in my cooking.
Love these!!! Yummy.
@ Nou. Just a thought, maybe your kid doesn’t have an egg allergy, it may be the soy which the farmers feed the chickens (for their high protein diet). I know i can’t eat eggs in the US because of this, whereas in Canada I can eat eggs (I guess we don’t feed them so much soy). Anyway try some eggs (if you want to ) from some farmers who don’t use soy. May cost you more but the problem would be solved
I made the eggplant burgers for my daughter and I. They were soooo good. She was asking for more. I think this might be one of our favorites. Thank you for sharing.
By the way, you always do a great job with the photos of each item you make. They always look so delicious.
We just had these for dinner. Both boys ate them up (4 and 6 years). I didn’t have parsley so I used basil from the garden and I used way more garlic (we love it here). I think I added too much water when the eggplant was cooking because after pureeing it was more like a thick pancake batter and I just had to spoon into the pan rather than form, but it worked and they were a hit!
Catherine –
HELP! I made these with the flax/water substitution and like a couple others, it was like pancake batter. Could not form a patty to save my life. I even added more bread crumbs to try and thicken the mixture, but it didn’t work. I was SOO excited about these – wondering what I did wrong and what I could do next time. I really want to try these again!
Thanks!
Your eggplant may have had too much water in it. Next time, cut your eggplant and place in between some towels to absorb some of its moisture. Then cook it down. When you reach the step where you have to steam, toss in the flax/water sub and cook it down. And continue with the recipe. If you feel like there is too much liquid in the saute pan when cooking the eggplant, just drain it.
Although the taste for these burgers were great, the texture and consistency did not work for my kids 9,7, and 4. They definitely looked like pancakes. They were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I followed the directions. Consistency and texture is half the battle with my kids. I’m not sure what I need to change next time to make them look like yours. Help!
I had very similar results. I ended up adding a lot of extra breadcrumbs and coating the patties in breadcrumbs to achieve a burger-like shape. My kids really liked them and the flavor was quite good, just difficult to work with. I wonder if it would be easier to form patties if the ingredients were just chopped and pressed together rather than processed.
Oo! i bet these would be really good if you coated them in bread crumbs and fried them (slightly) to make them crunchy. Then you could top them with tomato sauce and cheese. it’s be like Eggplant parm! Or make little nuggets or “strips” and dip them in tomato sauce. I’m am SO going to buy an eggplant right now!
These look delicious! We like eggplant around here and I usually make cheesy eggplant sticks for the kids, but these look even better!
for some reason my mixture was quite damp, so i coated the burgers with polenta and they turned out really well! will def do this one again.
I like Eggplant. I felt that it was a good meat “replacement” when I was a vegetarian (in terms of taste/texture). But recently when I had my first baby, I researched the nutritional value of eggplant, and came up with just about nothing.
Am I wrong about that? Yes, of course fiber is nice, but any vegetable gives you that.
Did u use wheat panko? Looks sooo good I can’t wait to make them!
You can use any kind of panko, i used whole wheat bread crumbs
We loved these! I was hoping to make them for friends who are gluten-intolerant. I read that some used quinoa, but they didn’t have enough substance. Would cooked rice work?
I don’t see why not, but i would make sure the rice is a little sticky
My toddler is allergic to egg, milk and soy. Any reason I couldn’t omit the parmesan and use flax in place of egg?
You can use nutritional yeast instead of parmesan and you can do the flax instead of the egg, I have not tested it with the flax – make sure there is not excess liquid since you will be using flax/water mixture so it may get a little runny, if anything add extra breadcrumbs
Wow! These are delicious!!! I placed them on the whole wheat bagel with a little mayo and some shredded mozzarella. Everyone loved them, and they’re so easy! Thanks again weelicious!
Thank you so much for the terrific recipe. I couldn’t believe it as I watched my uber-picky 8-year old DEVOUR this burger. He (and my husband) were both skeptical when I suggested these for dinner, but they turned out to be a major hit.
Your recipes are magic!
Do you think these could be baked instead of fried? I want to make a bunch and freeze them and just hate the thought of frying them all.
This was a big hit tonight. I too am thinking about baking them next time and even adding some mushrooms. “Wee” loved them!
Thank you!
Catherine, I can’t wait to try this tomorrow night, but what should I do if I don’t have fresh parsley? Thanks!
Do you have dried parsley? You can use 1 Tbsp of dried parsley. Or you can use cilantro
Thank you! I’ll post the turnout
I might also add a little basil
I totally agree with you. Protein is essential as it provides the muscle with amino acids required to repair the damage done by heavy lifting in the gym. Protein shakes are often consumed after workout as they provide a quick and easily consumable protein source. Thanks for the great post.
Dear Catherine,
I love your website and so does my 2 year old son who loves to cook with me and watch you cook with your kids.
On this recipe, which I’ve made several times, I never know how many cups I should have of the eggplant. I usually have to add a second egg to the food processor during the mixing process because it is just too dry…I figure if I could get the eggplant amount correct that this wouldn’t happen. But other than the fact that I have to tweak to avoid this problem, we LOVE this recipe!
Thank you for your creativity and charisma.
Alexandra
My 2 y/o devoured these. If you have a little extra time, I recommend roasting the cubed eggplant with the garlic clove, olive oil, salt and pepper. It adds a little more flavor to the eggplant and you need less oil and no water. Then just proceed as directed. Delicious!
This recipe was a definite winner with my picky 2 year old! It’s one of the first items that he was willing to eat without seeing it a million times first! One question I have is, can I use other grated cheeses in this? My husband said that he liked the taste of them, but had a hard time getting past the “stinky cheese” smell. (Not a fan of Parmesan) What non-stinky cheese could I substitute?
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